Memory Question.

[Bozo]

I really should know these facts myself but here goes.

Getting a dual amd board and have been offered some crucial 2100 ddr (registered) at what seems a reasonable price 2 x 512mb for £170 or 1 x 512 for £85 not a bad price in uk from what i can see.

Now would i be better off getting pc2700 memory even if it means i have less memory in the system as it should run quicker and therefore be better for crunching, or go with 2100 memory and have more on-board ram (not sure at this point whether this will kept for crunching or be the all purpose box).


Also... dont know about newer 3500 memory is this comptible or is this only for newer boards ? I am confused about bus speeds/memory speeds 133/166 333 etc.

[NorthernYankee]

Just go ahead and buy the crucial...the 2700 or 3500 would be a waste since all dual AMD boards can only support a 266 bus and and having RAM that runs at 333 or 400 would be a waste...even if you oclock the FSB you will still only hit maybe 145 or so which is only 290 on the memory.

--NY

[Player0]

Bozo, I've been wondering myself since im getting a dual-xeon system together soon (i have the babies sitting right here, no board until after I get back tho).

Mines a dual channel DDR PC2100 board. But I think I am going to use XMS3200 on it. My thinking is...no, I probably won't get the FSB up much....BUT...I bet I can use some amazing ram timings if the Xeon board allows for it. Maybe 1T command rate or CAS1.5 or something. Those kind of settings still require fast ram, even if they require a slower FSB.

However, Im not sure the board will have these options. If not, go for the PC2100 Cas2. If you have extra money from the holidays, I cant recommend Dual Xeons enough. It will only cost you a couple hundred dollars more (which, yeah, is a lot of money but the performance is SOOO much higher for that $200, the price/performance ratio really leans towards Xeons for sure).

[MrP]

bozo.

it might be worth talking to scotty or dewill as they both run alot of dual systems.

you can overclock some of the dual board, but i dunno how far.

i would still say that crucial DDR2100 stuff shoudl be more than man enough for the job though

toodles

[tripodal]

As far as i know, in my expericent building servers at work ( we use primarily supermicro boards) that the fsb is not adjustable in any straightforward manner.
but you can adjust the multiplier, tho ive never attempted oc'ing the processors this way. yes, the xeons are not locked. i dont know if thats a mind blow for anyone


Originally posted by Player0
Bozo, I've been wondering myself since im getting a dual-xeon system together soon (i have the babies sitting right here, no board until after I get back tho).

Mines a dual channel DDR PC2100 board. But I think I am going to use XMS3200 on it. My thinking is...no, I probably won't get the FSB up much....BUT...I bet I can use some amazing ram timings if the Xeon board allows for it. Maybe 1T command rate or CAS1.5 or something. Those kind of settings still require fast ram, even if they require a slower FSB.

However, Im not sure the board will have these options. If not, go for the PC2100 Cas2. If you have extra money from the holidays, I cant recommend Dual Xeons enough. It will only cost you a couple hundred dollars more (which, yeah, is a lot of money but the performance is SOOO much higher for that $200, the price/performance ratio really leans towards Xeons for sure).

[Bozo]

Thanks for the suggestions. The board is supposed to be really good for overclocking (iwill) I know the guy who is selling the memory has the same dual board running at 150 fsb with no problems at all and has put in other memory to push it further.

Never tried overclocking so maybe I just go with the 2100 and if i decide to push it i should gain a fair bit anyway (will be running thororbred xp's by the way :) )

Might well ask scottie, MrP good suggestion. Just hope he still has the chips since i have been undecisive he may have sold them by now.